For far too long the American market has enjoyed Toyota’s retro 4×4, which to be perfectly honest is the only Jeep-like vehicle that has caught my attention in a long time. Sensing that perhaps South Africans might be interested in a solid offroad vehicle with great street-cred, they’ve just launched it here. Yesterday in fact. We’ve got all the details and pictures here:

With styling cues from the original FJ40, such as the white roof, single round headlights and even sporting an original TOYOTA badge, the FJ cruiser is here to make you nostalgic for Land Cruisers of old.

With solid Land Cruiser underpinnings, the FJ is a serious 4×4, as opposed to a not-s0-serious 4×4 designed for the horrors of shopping centre car parks and climbing the curb at your daughter’s hockey game.

Four variants are available at launch, all sporting a 4.0 litre V6 petrol engine. Let’s get technical for a minute here.The powerplant is good for a rather massive 200kW (at 5600rpm) and 380Nm (at 4400rpm). With Toyota’s clever iVVTi (Intelligent Variable Valve Timing) operating all 24 valves, torque and power is spread nicely across the rev range.

In normal road mode, power is sent to the rears. Selecting 4×4 mode will send power to all four wheels through the transfer box, through the five-speed automatic transmission. The five speed auto box is equipped with Toyota’s AI Shift control with Flex Lock-Up, which measures road conditions, power requirements and driver inputs to adjust gear selection and gear changes to best deliver on driver intentions. Of course, low range is available. What did you expect?

Angles are important when offroading, apparently. You’ve got 34 degrees upfront, a breakover angle of 29 degrees and a departure angle of 30 degrees. Translation: you can drive up and down steep things. Ground clearance is 245mm on the FJ’s standard 17inch wheels and rubber.

We’ll be driving the FJ soon and let you know what we think of it. Prices below followed by a gallery.

Prices for the full range of Toyota FJ Cruiser in South Africa

FJ Cruiser:                           R435 500

FJ Desert Cruiser:            R450 400

Nudge bar with mounted driving lamps, all weather carpets, tow bar, rock rails, and Desert badges – Limited Edtion in Sandstorm colour.

FJ Trail Cruiser:                 R451 700

Roof rack with integrated driving lamps, black spare wheel cover, tow bar, all weather carpets and Trail badges – Limited Edition in Grey Metallic colour.

FJ Sport Cruiser:               R457 300

Raven black model with leather seats, chrome detailing on bumper, high mounted air intake, door handles, side mirrors, radiator grille, carpet set, FJ scuff plates and Sport badges.

The picture certainly fulfils itself  as a teaser by keeping all major parts behind the veil. However, we expect the car to have sharper lines, a smaller grille and distinctive headlights.

More details pertaining to the vehicle are still under wraps. CEO Akio Toyoda has been quoted as saying that the upcoming model will be the “best Camry ever” with outstanding “handling, safety and fuel economy.” Watch this space for more details.

The Coupe is likely to be inspired by the concept of the futuristic Lexus GS that was recently revealed. We guess that Toyota will make a larger Coupe this time around.

The carmaker is expected to release the vehicle with a plug-in hybrid technology, a lithium-ion battery and a manual transmission features.  Stay tuned for more.

Going by the pictures, we guess the production model will equip aggressive fascia, an increased ride height and extended fender flares. We hope the car would a 2.0-liter four-cylinder power train that comes with desirable adaptations and equipped with some smaller displacement turbocharged units.

With only mild tweaks on the international Toyota IQ model, this two-seater Scion IQ will equip a 1.3 liter, four-cylinder engine rendering a decent motivation of 94 bhp (70 kW / 95 PS) along with an 89 lb-ft (121 Nm) of torque.

The IQ comes across as a premium micro-subcompact, and will be ready by October this year. To come to the West Coast streets, the car will drive to the rest of the US by the early half of 2012. We hear the Scion IQ will have  a starting price of $15,265 .

The new variant comes with a sleek exterior, complete with cosmetic changes that bring in a revised grille, a new front fascia and restyled headlights. However, the inside of Hilux appears less altered, except for a new instrument binnacle, restyled dashboard and an updated 6.1-inch touch screen display for infotainment.

The European edition of the four door pick up equips a 2.5-liter D-4D engine upgraded with variable nozzle turbocharger, pumps up 144 PS (106 kW / 142 PS) and 343 Nm (253 lb-ft) of torque.

This all-time favorite D-4D engine not only boasts 24 PS (18 kW / 24 hp), but also has  reasonable CO2 emissions of 193 g/km and reduced fuel consumption of 7.3 L/100 km.

A short video of Toyota’s major market player for 2012 has been exposed. The footage(if you want to see it now, you cant – because the video has been removed by the user)  was recorded atToyota’s annual dealer convention inLas Vegas.

Toyota Motor Corp. president and CEO Akio Toyoda had earlier said the car will be “best Camry-ever”, offering remarkable “handling, safety and fuel economy.”

Low-resolution video, shot with a cell phone, doesn’t fail to convince the vehicle’s smooth exterior, edgy style and finer overall look. The size of the car appears to match the current generation Camry and the tail lights are similar to the new Honda Civic.

Camry can be anticipated in a sporty SE variant and a fuel-sipping hybrid, apart from the characteristic standard model. We don’t know about any additional details, which we hope to provide in the near future.

One thing is sure: the car is going to be unprecedentedly sexy.

For all anticipating Camry lovers, we have the teaser posted below. Toyota president and CEO Akio Toyoda who appears in the teaser video calls the upcoming vehicle as “the best Camry ever” and will “exceed your expectations.”  The 2012 Camry, according to him, will be a “remarkable car in terms of handling, safety and fuel economy.”

Anticipation is on a high with the teaser coming out. We expect the car to drive in with a refurbished design, compared to the Camry of 2007. Well, a more spacious and classy design is a sure. But we will need to wait and see how stylish the end product will be.

More info is yet to come by, though. Nevertheless, we expect the rebuilt Camry this fall.

No doubt, the variant is a sequel to the MR2 Sport Hybrid concept, debuted at the 2010 Tokyo Auto Salon. However, the new version features a mid-mounted 3.5 liter V6 petrol engine that produces 245 hp (183KW/ 248 PS) and powers the rear wheels. Besides, the car is equipped with an electric motor that powers the front wheels and gives the SHC an all-wheel drive system.

Expected to debut this weekend, the car will weigh around 1,500 kg (3,306 lbs) and has a combined output of 295 hp (220 kW / 299 PS).

Stay tuned.

What we know is that the vehicle will feature a 6.1-inch touchscreen display and also an option of three different engines -  a 1.0-liter VVT-i, a 1.33-liter dual VVT-i and a 1.4-liter D-4D diesel.

The 2012 Yaris would in fact be Toyota’s strongest offer yet in the important supermini segment. With its new levels of utmost quality and efficiency, we guess Toyota can build upon earlier successes and help Toyota pick up popularity in Europe. The Japanese major is eyeing the one million annual sales mark in the region during the medium term.

With a unique “compact outside, spacious inside,” packaging strategy, the Yaris is all set top thrill. Toyota plans to make the model available by this summer.